Dreams of Wonderland
by green-eyed-demoness2010
Summary: Inspired by Reizbar's Katsuya in Wonderland. Wonderland is a place that is not what it seems. So are four young men looking for love. Will Shadow Magic and a dream deliver the love they yearn for? Or will it end in heartbreak? SetoJoey ON HIATUS
1. Prologue Part 1

A/N: This is my first YGO multi-chapter fanfic, so please, be gentle. This story was inspired by Reizbar-Ookami's "Katsuya's Adventures in Wonderland." Reiz is an excellent writer and I fully support her stories as they are some of my favorites. This idea just popped into my head one day in the car, and it wouldn't let me go. Some character designs are loosely based on her characters from her fanfic, but the overall idea of the plot is mine. Two major distinctions: 1) Katsuya/Joey is NOT the Alice character, and 2) none of the Darks or Seto will be any character in Alice in Wonderland. My idea is going in a different direction than her plot; I just decided to use the same story (Alice in Wonderland) for the dreams.

I do not own any of the characters, just the plot.

Reviews are loved, so please and thank you!

* * *

"Do you really think this will work, Yugi?" a soft voice asked, coming from the bed where a slim albino boy sat, clutching a pillow in his lap.

"It's the only real chance we've got, Ryou. If it doesn't, then…I don't know." Yugi replied, his hand ruffling his star-shaped hair in frustration over the current predicament as he stood in the middle of his bedroom, surrounded by his three friends.

"Why do you think this will work over every other plan we've come up with?" a sharp voice interrupted, coming from the platinum blond Egyptian boy sitting in the desk chair, lavender eyes staring at Yugi in skepticism. But before Yugi could defend his idea, another voice spoke.

"Well, it's the only plan that could work since nothing else has. Honestly, I'm willing to go for it, even with the possibility of utter failure waiting for us." Joey said, his honey brown eyes tired and worn because of what had happened over the last couple of weeks. Shaking his golden blond hair out of his eyes, he looked to Yugi to continue with the plan. The other boys, all equally sick of what had been happening, all nodded their assent and proceeded to listen to what Yugi had been proposing.

Now, my reader, you may be curious as to what the four Lights and Joey are planning and for what reason. Well, it all began after the Ceremonial Duel that had occurred roughly six months beforehand. Yugi had emerged victorious in the duel, much to everyone's and Yugi's dismay. None of the group had wanted Yami to leave them, especially Yugi, but he had his own reason. You see, Yugi had begun to fall in love with his Dark, and the possibility of Yami leaving him forever for the afterlife almost destroyed the poor boy. Similarly, Malik and Ryou were facing the same situation. Over time, the two boys had discovered better sides of their own Darks, sparking their own feelings of love. The Gods, attentive to the Lights' plight, had decided to allow Yami, Marik, and Bakura to remain in the modern world with their own bodies in order to rehabilitate themselves and live out new lives.

Of course, all three Darks jumped at the chance, and had solemnly promised not to abuse the privilege. Unbeknownst to their Lights, the Darks had also fallen in love with their partners. Being the perceptive, intelligent young men that they are, Yugi, Ryou, and Malik could tell that there was a possibility of their Darks loving them in return. However, there was one little problem with the seemingly happy situation: the Darks are complete cowards when it comes to expressing their feelings for their Lights. Not once, in the entire six months they have been alive on Earth, have the Darks told their Lights that they loved them, only regarding them with friendship and keeping them at a slight distance. At first, the Lights believed that it was only a matter of time before their crushes admitted their feelings, but, sadly, that was not the case.

Yami was welcomed into Yugi and Grandpa's home without hesitation, receiving his own room and belongings, and had taken over many responsibilities of the Kame Game shop while going to school with Yugi. Ryou had agreed to allow Bakura to stay at his apartment under the promise not the steal anything or cause any chaos. Somehow, Ryou had managed to get Bakura enrolled in school as well. Malik, after begging and pleading with Ishizu, with some unexpected help from both Odion and Marik, was able to acquire residence for his Dark in his family's home in Domino. Of course, Ishizu only allowed him to stay as long as he also attended school under Malik's supervision and regularly helped her in the museum where she worked. This was all agreed to by the ecstatic Dark, since he was just happy to have a roof over his head and food to eat instead of being kicked out automatically for what he had done in the past. Good thing no one told him that all it really took for Ishizu to agree was Odion giving her a scenario of what Marik was capable of without supervision to scare her into taking him in where she could keep an eye on him.

Now, with the Darks being placed in the homes of their respective Lights and the six facing this emotional crisis, why would Joey get involved in all this? That's because, he too, faces a similar situation. Over the last year, Joey had started falling for his enemy, Seto Kaiba. SETO KAIBA of all people! I bet you are wondering, dear reader, how did this come about? Well, after all he had seen and done within the Memory World, as well as receiving some of his own past-life memories, Seto Kaiba had finally gotten over his denial of magic and monsters and accepted his role in history. This allowed for him to loosen up a bit more around the others, and with Mokuba's help, was able to actually become friends with them, although he would use the term 'friends' tentatively. With Seto opening up more and more every day, Joey had started seeing a new side of the CEO, and he liked it. A lot. So, with teenage hormones raging and finally having the spare time to accept his sexuality without having to deal with the next apocalypse by card game, Joey Wheeler had fallen in love with Seto Kaiba. This is all well and good, but one problem. With Seto being as socially retarded as he is, even though he had come to love his blond puppy in return, he also can't find it in himself to say anything about his feelings for Joey. Instead, he kept up the façade of not caring for Joey by continuing to call him subtle names and keeping him at a distance. This hurt Joey more than words could describe, as every insult cut him even more deeply than they did before.

All in all, it was a very depressing situation the four young boys found themselves in. To have their loves so close, but knowing they'll never make the first move, it just hurt too much.

Again, you may wonder dear reader, why don't the Lights and Joey just tell their crushes they love them and get the whole thing over with? Well, many reasons come into play. First, Yugi is terrified to tell Yami of his feelings, since he believes that Yami would rather have Tea than him. It seems that over the past six months, Tea had begun to show a darker side to herself, but only to Yugi during attempts to make him think that Yami would never want him. At first, Yugi was terribly confused as to her behavior, since he believed them to be close friends, but now he saw the cold, hard truth. All this time, Tea had been consumed with jealousy over Yami and Yugi's bond, and has been trying to break them apart with hurtful comments and lies. It became such a burden that Yugi broke down and revealed everything to his fellow Lights and Joey. Hearing what Tea was doing shocked them all. It ended up hurting Joey even more when he heard that Tea was also thinking of putting the moves on Seto if she and Yami didn't work out. Finding out that one of their oldest friends was betraying them cut them all to the core.

Ryou's reason stemmed from his own tumultuous past. He had lost his mother and younger sister when he was only ten years old. The loss affected him badly, but his father even more so. They never became very close, Ryou too timid and afraid of his father when he was rarely around. His father, attempting to keep some distance between him and his son, had enrolled Ryou in a boarding school when he was 12, always putting high expectations on the poor boy's shoulders and criticizing him to become better. When Ryou's father found out he was gay, well, that was the last straw. Ryou was exiled from his home and disowned by his father, a small inheritance by his late grandfather the only thing keeping him from absolute poverty while he is in school. Losing so many important people in his life, and being so horribly rejected by his only living family, Ryou cannot bring himself to face the possible rejection of the only man he could ever love.

Malik shares in Ryou's fears. Having his own dark memories of his parents and their unfair expectations of him scarred him deeply. Becoming so immersed and influenced by the evil magic of the Shadow Realm, Malik began to suffer from insecurities about himself. Even with the support of his brother and sister in accepting his sexuality, Malik had a very hard time coming out to his friends. Taking the next step and asking for a relationship with his Dark felt like too much too fast for Malik. It was going to take some time before that amount of courage could be found, so he had been hoping that Marik would step up and do that for him, of which he would have been very receptive. It was disheartening over the last six months to have heard nothing remotely resembling an invitation for a relationship, lowering his self esteem even more.

Joey's hesitance should be very obvious to you, my dear reader. Falling in love with one's tormentor is never easy to deal with. Combine that stress with living with an abusive father who's a homophobe, one can see what Joey has had to endure on a daily basis. Lately, it's taken all of Joey's strength and wit to keep his secret and his crush from his father, especially since the old man had become more violent lately. More than once over the past two weeks, Joey has had to crash on Yugi's couch just to have the chance to sleep through the night without midnight fights and beatings. And going to school only to be called names by your crush is just making Joey's life that much worse. With enormous obstacles from both his crush and his dad, Joey is almost at the end of his rope when it comes to love.

This now brings us back to Yugi's plan, a convoluted deception in order to get their Darks and Seto to reveal their feelings. And to think it all started with an English assignment at school.

"Okay, explain this one more time, just so we're clear." Joey asked, wanting to know all the details and possible failures before they started this crazy scheme.

"Alright, Joey." Yugi agreed before holding up his inspiration, the book "Alice in Wonderland."

"My idea started when we were assigned to read this book. You know that it's all about this dream world where nothing is as it seems, where hidden personalities and truths are revealed by the characters: Alice, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, and the Red and White Queen. Basically, they're archetypes of different types of people, or whatever our teacher was talking about, I'm not really sure. Anyway, I was thinking, what would happen if we were all in this dream world and our crushes were put into situations where they were able to discover the real us and possibly tell us how they really feel. Malik and I have talked about it, and it's possible to use a spell to put our Darks to sleep and place them in this dream world where they can tell us how they really feel about us. We would essentially become some of the characters from the story, though, but we would be our real selves and they would get to know us for who we are."

"Okay, so you're saying we stop lying in a lie? That's kind of twisted, but makes a bit of sense. I think…" Ryou said, a confused look on his face but he paid attention anyway.

"Look, I know we've kept some things about ourselves secret from our Darks, so what better place than in a dream to reveal everything." Yugi said, trying to lighten the mood. The others didn't look too convinced.

Over the course of the last few years, each of the Lights and Joey had changed a bit in behavior and personality. It was obvious that they were maturing into adults, but what with all the random battles, shadow games, monsters, and plots to take over the world, they hadn't really sat down and noticed that they were growing up.

Ryou had become much stronger that he used to be, becoming more assertive in his opinions and ideas, a.k.a. actually growing a backbone. To top that off, he had recently taken up martial arts and self-defense training as a way to become stronger physically, as well as gain more confidence. Yugi had matured to essentially a younger version of Yami, much more smooth and elegant than his younger self. And like Ryou, he had gained a lot of confidence after all the years of being alone and bullied, mainly by joining Ryou in his martial arts classes. Malik discovered his calculating side, a far more controlled person than his crazier days of plotting. Turns out, he could be quite calm and collected in the face of stress and conflict, often outwitting his opponent instead of using force or threats. And Joey, well, he turned out to be full of surprises. He wasn't the blond fool and street fighter everyone assumed he was. Yeah, he did know how to fight, but he was much more graceful and disciplined than what people expected from being in a street gang. He was also very intelligent, almost scary smart, when put to the test. The only reason his grades were so low was because of his home life, which in itself created too much stress to deal with as well as school, and the absolute insanity of the past three years of his life involving magic and almost being killed every day. Too be honest, if Joey were to take the last few years of school again, there was no doubt he would give Seto a run for valedictorian.

With these new changes that the four boys were undergoing, it had become a common fear that they were no longer attractive to their crushes. They all believed that their crushes had fallen in love with who they used to be, and that these changes would just chase them away. Yugi thought that Yami wanted his 'little aibou', the child-like person he used to be, someone that needed constant protecting instead of being trusted to stand on his own. Ryou feared that all Bakura wanted was someone that was easy to control and manipulate, a virtual slave and submissive partner. Malik expected Marik to want someone really crazy like himself, always riding the adrenaline high of mischief and trickery. And Joey? Well, if Seto liked the 'mutt' that he always called the blond, then how was the CEO going to react to someone that could match him completely, both physically and mentally? Somehow, Joey doubted the brunet wanted someone who could easily challenge him, be it in a game or in academics, if he still had some altercations with Yami, the only person ever to beat him at Duel Monsters.

"Look, what Yugi's trying to say is, that if we do set up the spell and show them our true selves, and they don't like it, then we can just end the whole thing and no one will ever know about it. They'll all just chalk it up to being some crazy dream and forget about it. No one will know what really happened." Malik explained, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back into the chair.

"But, Malik, we'll know what happened." Ryou spoke up, his eyes becoming watery and depressed as he held the pillow tighter. Yugi and Joey looked down, also knowing what Ryou meant.

"If that happens, then we'll know that they won't like the real us. They'll never accept who we really are." Ryou added, as tears began to swell in his eyes.

"If that happens Ryou, then we'll know without a doubt that..." Malik trailed off as he was becoming choked up as well before continuing. "If that happens, then we'll know that our loves were never meant to be. We'll give up our feelings and just go on with our lives."

Ryou, Yugi and Joey looked at him with horror, but seeing the plain reality reflected in his broken lavender eyes, they saw the truth. If none of their crushes could find it in themselves to accept the Lights and Joey as they were, then any possible relationships were pointless. Real love was about accepting everything about the partner, no matter what. If Yami, Bakura, Marik, and Seto couldn't do that, then love was out of the question. For all of them.


	2. Prologue Part 2

A/N: Hello again, as you may have guessed by the title, this is the prologue from the Dark's and Seto's point of view. It took me forever to finally start this, but I thought it was only fair to show the whole situation from both groups' perspectives. It just made sense to give you the full spectrum of what is happening with each character before moving on with the story. Geez, I never thought writing a multiple chapter story would be this hard… No wonder I usually stuck to short stories.

I do not own any of the characters….Dammit.

Secondly, the plot is mine with acknowledged inspiration coming from Reizbar-Ookami.

Thirdly, NEED REVIEWS SO THIS STORY ISN'T A LOST CAUSE!

* * *

"We are such cowards." Seto said, closing his eyes as he sighed in frustration. The three young Egyptian men sitting around him in his living room all looked at him, their eyes boggled at what he just said.

"EH?" Such was the sophisticated response. Yami was the first to recover when he hung his head in shame and realization, just nodding in agreement with what the young CEO just stated. The other two men, Marik and Bakura, turned their attention to him.

"What? Why?" They both countered in indignation, being offended that big badasses such as themselves could be cowards of any kind. Yami just sighed before raising his crimson eyes and glaring at them.

"Because we are, you idiots! At least Seto's man enough to admit the truth! I've known for a while, but you two are in denial. We're cowards because we're terrified to telling our hikari's-", Yami was interrupted by Seto's forced cough, "- , and Joey, that we love them!"

"Oh, right, that…. Okay, we're cowards." Bakura agreed as both he and Marik slumped even further into the couch, now severely depressed by the situation.

As you may have already found out, dear reader, the Darks have been living with their respective Lights for the past six months. However, only mostly unbeknownst to their Lights and Joey, all the Darks and Seto have fallen in love with them but have yet to tell them. Thus, this created very depressed Lights, plus Joey, while making all the Darks, plus Seto, doubly depressed. Oh, what is a young teen in love to do?

"Alright, we may be cowards, but we have to tell them! It's only fair. They need to know." Yami stated, obviously being the voice of reason of the group, despite his own uncertainty of his words. The others just looked at him in horror.

"We can't do that! Who knows what will happen! They could hate us forever if we just told them!" Marik exclaimed, firmly in the grips of the group's fears and paranoia. Bakura was nodding so hard in agreement he looked like an Egyptian albino bobble-head doll. Seto's entire body had stiffened at the words "hate" and "forever" because he had had enough hate in both his lifetimes to never want to have anything to do with such horrible emotions again. After finally coming to grips with his returned memories, as well as finding real friends for the first time in his life, Seto never wanted to feel or be treated with such hatred again. He had learned the hard way, twice, that it only led to pain and regret.

Now here are the explanations of why the Darks and Seto refuse to tell their loves the truth of their feelings. Once again, it starts after the Ceremonial Duel…

Yami had fallen in love with his Aibou a long time ago, way before the Ceremonial Duel took place. At first, the strange new emotions he began to experience around his Light had confused him of course, what with being trapped in a puzzle for five thousand years with no human contact. But over time he was finally able to accept that he loved his younger look-alike after Duelist Kingdom, but because of him being an intangible spirit, nothing serious would come from it. However, this didn't stop his emotions from intensifying the longer he spent around the teenager. Yugi, in Yami's eyes, was the most beautiful, caring, and compassionate person he had ever met. It seemed like his heart knew no bounds when it came to his friends, and even strangers, when they were in need. Being around such a person showed Yami that he didn't need incredible strength or limitless power to be happy, only that he be himself. Yami could see that any person would be lucky to have Yugi's heart. In the end, it was that thought that made Yami's own heart twist painfully in his chest whenever he thought of his beloved Little One.

Yugi could choose anyone to love, and would no doubt be loved in return. Why would he want some ancient spirit that lived in his head and took over his body all the time? Better yet, and this thought hurt Yami so badly he imagined he would die from the shame and regret, why would Yugi want someone that didn't listen to him and caused that wonderful boy to be captured and imprisoned in the Shadow Realm? What he did that day, playing that horrid Seal of Orichalcos, was unforgiveable in his eyes. Knowing that Yugi had already forgiven him had made him feel slightly better, but he had yet to forgive himself. He had acted selfishly and cruelly, forcing Yugi to pay the price for his arrogance. In Yami's mind, Yugi would never want someone so horrible and inconsiderate as a life-mate or even a boyfriend.

Bakura and Marik suffered from the same feelings of shame and regret. They had both treated their Lights horribly, often hurting them physically and mentally in order to gain more accursed power for themselves. For them, even being possessed by sadistic evil spirits and dark Shadow magic were not adequate excuses for what they had done. Even now, the two spirits would suffer nightmares about what they made their Lights go through. Banishing them to the Shadow Realm over and over, ridiculing them and hurting their friends and family, they just couldn't get away from the evil acts of their pasts, thus causing them to give up on their futures and any hopes of being in loving relationships with them.

To say that they were shocked when they heard about the Gods' offer of gaining a body and living all over again in the modern time with their Lights, well that would be the understatement of the past five millennia. In those first few seconds, all of the spirits had felt truly blessed for being given the chance of spending their lives with the ones they loved, that is, until their high hopes were dashed by their pasts coming back to haunt them. So far, they have been able to change themselves for the better, often making their Lights happy, and subsequently, making themselves happy, but the hopes they once had were pushed far back into their minds, chained by their fears and uncertainties.

For Seto, it had to be extremely obvious why he was scared, now that he freely admits it, of telling his blond puppy how he feels. I mean, seriously, if the person that had made your life Hell ever since they met you just upped and told you that they loved you more than words could say, wouldn't you be a tad unbelieving and freaked out? Yes. Yes, you would. And considering how his energetic puppy often overreacts over things, being freaked out was the least of Seto's worries. Sometimes he could barely sleep at night worrying over how Joey would react to his confession. One possibility was a harsh punch to the face, but compared to Joey's unrelenting hatred, a black eye or broken jaw sounded like the more appealing option.

Suffice to say, each of them had their reasons for being cowards.

"Okay, cousin, what do you propose we do about it?" Seto asked, now thoroughly tired of the whole situation and only wanted answers.

"Yeah, Pharaoh, what the Hell do we do?" Bakura growled. Marik didn't even add to the conversation, but paid attention all the same.

"Well, we….No, we could….Maybe we can….ARRGH! I have absolutely no idea. If we just had an idea about their feelings for us, then maybe we could get somewhere. As much as I would love to tell Yugi everything, the prospect of failure is too great. Damn, why did our loves have to be so hard to read?" Yami groaned, hanging his head in his hands.

"Wait, you still have that mind-link, right?" Seto asked, hoping for something positive.

"No can do, Priest. We all tried it weeks ago. We can't get an idea about their emotions since the link has degraded a bit since we obtained our own bodies. It still works for communication, but as for emotions, no go." Bakura explained, causing Seto's good mood to deflate. Oh well, that idea went out the window fast.

"Okay, so there's no way we can secretly analyze their emotions. Fine. What about asking someone else?" Marik suggested. Seto and Yami looked at him, both raising their eyebrows.

"What do you mean, 'ask someone else'?" Yami asked.

"Well, why don't we ask Yugi's grandfather or Malik's brother and sister or Joey's sister? I mean, they have to know something, don't they?" Marik explained.

"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, Tomb Keeper, but that might not work. What if our crushes did confide their feelings about us, but they're not what we hope they are?" Seto countered, his mind whirling with logical arguments. "I mean, what if they told their relatives that they like someone else other than us, or that they're not gay to begin with. If we just started asking suspicious questions about their personal relationships, they'll most likely catch on to what we're doing and tell them. Either way, it could turn out horribly for all of us."

Marik just growled at Seto before crossing his arms and huffing, muttering something like 'buzz kill' under his breath.

"He has a point, Marik. Whatever plan we may try will always have to possibility of failure. There will always be the chance that they find out about what we're trying to do and call us on it." Yami defended.

"So, what you're saying, Pharoah, is that we can't do anything at all to solve our problem because what we're terrified of happening could happen sooner if we did do something? What the HELL!" Bakura yelled loudly, his face going red with anger. He couldn't believe that there was nothing he could do to be with his dear Ryou that couldn't backfire on him.

After Bakura had his little explosion, he finally just returned to slumping on the couch. Marik followed his example while Yami and Seto just shook their heads in frustration. Overall, they couldn't see any way out of their predicament without risk of exposure, which would be practically assured if they tried to find out their love's inner feelings through outside means. All this pointed to was the final option of a face-to-face meeting. The only way they could truly find out if their love was reciprocated would have to be confronting their crushes directly. Although this plan meant that the Darks and Seto had the most to lose: their pride, their happiness, and most importantly, the loves of their lives; ultimately, it was the only plan where results, regardless of good or bad, would be received the fastest way. That only left one question on each of the young men's minds:

"What ARE we going to do?"


	3. The Plan

A/N: I have heard from the Great Reizbar-Ookami (prostrates and bows before their greatness) that some of their fans have made the accusation that I have plagiarized their work from "Katsuya in Wonderland."

Let me be perfectly clear: I WAS **INSPIRED **BY THEIR WORK! I** NEVER** PLAGIARIZED! I PUT THIS ON MY **SUMMARY** AND MY FIRST CHAPTER'S **AUTHOR'S NOTES**!

Plagiarizing is considered a CRIME in my book, and coincidentally is a crime where I am currently located. By saying so, I have never nor will ever entertain the thought of plagiarizing someone else's hard work for my own benefit. Please, next time any reader has any reservations about plagiarism, please message me or leave a review, but AT LEAST READ MY WORK TO BE SURE OF YOUR CLAIMS!

I do not own the characters, only the plot.

I would also like the thank **YJ, MEWSLY, **and **DevilsNvrCry** for their support of my story. I will do my best to update as soon as possible within my college schedule.

Reviews are MOST welcomed, but please, constructive criticism or no criticism at all. Please and Thank You!

* * *

The next day, all eight of our beloved characters had to return to the dreaded establishment called "high school." Since none of them really wanted to go, but of course had no choice, their mornings always started off as they usually do: with various protests.

Yugi was usually the first one awake in his household, so he held the responsibility of waking his grandfather and Yami in order to start the day. Now, his grandpa wasn't that hard to wake up, so there wasn't any problem with him. Yami, however, was a whole different matter.

"Yami, get up! If you don't wake up right now, we'll be late! We can't have another tardy just because you hate being conscious!" Yugi yelled through the door as he straightened his neck collar before returning to his room. Honestly, Yugi never had as much trouble dragging a person out of bed before his crush attained his own body. It was like trying to revive the dead since Yami's mind never fully turned on until they were halfway to school.

As he was pulling on his shoes, he heard Yami's door open and a shuffling of feet with a side of grumbled Egyptian before the bathroom door closed. Satisfied that the older boy was awake, his thoughts turned toward more pressing matters. Yugi sighed, thinking back on what he, the other Lights, and Joey had decided they were going to do today.

The night before, they had all agreed to approach their crushes, and Seto through their crushes, about a study group session in the park for English class. Considering how their English teacher was practically an English Nazi, the plan was already agreed upon without much persuasion. However, when they will all be gathered in the park they would enact the spell to put the Darks and Seto asleep and create the dream world. They themselves would also fall asleep, but have relatively complete control over the dream and what occurs during it. There were some sketchy details pertaining to the spell, but nothing that looked too worrying. While in the dream, each of the guys would finally let down the masks they had created and become their true selves while also becoming their chosen characters. They will meet their crushes, while pretending not to know them, and lead them through the dream, with various obstacles and problems to face, and hopefully, to a happy ending for all.

Thinking about it now, Yugi could clearly see how the whole plan could fall apart. There were so many ways that their lies could backfire on them. What if their crushes feel betrayed by the whole charade and start to hate them? What if something goes wrong with the dream and someone accidentally gets hurt? But worst of all, what if all their own personal dreams of finding love are destroyed if none of their crushes return their feelings? So many things could derail all of their efforts and leave them wallowing in despair. Oh well, the plan has been set. None of them could change it now. It had to work.

"Morning, Aibou." Yami said sleepily, breaking Yugi out of his reverie. Yugi looked up and smiled at his secret crush as he finished tying his shoes.

"Morning, Yami. Breakfast should be done by now. Let's go." Yugi said as he led the way down the stairs to the kitchen, following the delicious smell of pancakes that his Grandpa was making.

* * *

"Bakura, wake up, please." Ryou called through the door of his Dark's room. Hearing some unintelligible grumbling and muttering from the other side, he walked away satisfied that his Dark had woken up to some degree. While he was preparing breakfast for them both, Ryou mulled over the plan he and his friends had decided on for the afternoon.

Like Yugi, Ryou was sensible enough to understand that the plan had a fifty-fifty chance of succeeding and failing. Although Ryou tried to be optimistic about the whole situation, he couldn't help but feel a cold dread form in the pit of his stomach, tumultuous worries about what could happen over the next 24 hours filling his head. He knew he would be tense and nervous for the rest of the day, silently waiting on the final bell that would release the students from school. Deep in Ryou's mind, he was having a frustrating debate with himself about whether or not he should be happy when the last bell rings, knowing that soon he would receive the answer to his yearning heart's desire.

_I hope to Ra this works out. I don't know if I could stand it if Bakura hated me for all this,_ Ryou thought, the very idea of being so cruelly rejected sending cold, sharp pangs straight to his heart.

Hearing a grunt from behind him, he pushed away the bad thoughts bouncing around his head and turned to smile at Bakura as he ambled into the kitchen and sat down at the breakfast table, looking slightly rumpled in his sloppy uniform and sleep-fogged eyes.

"Good morning, Bakura." Ryou greeted. His reply was the sound of Bakura's head hitting the table as he quickly slipped back into unconsciousness.

_It's going to be one __**those**__ days, isn't it,_ Ryou sighed, hearing Bakura's light snores coming from under his Dark's hair.

* * *

Malik never bothered to verbally wake his Dark. Knowing how the other Lights sometimes had problems waking their other halves, Malik just decided to take the quickest route, the physical way.

Malik opened up Marik's door and strode across his room to open the blackout curtains before turning to see the large lump taking residence on the bed. Turns out that Marik detested light of any kind while he slept, explaining the curtains, and more often than not, would curl up completely under the covers until not a single limb or hair could be seen.

Malik leaned over the large, softly breathing lump, and listened to his crush's light snores emanating from underneath the blanket. Determining that his Dark was still deeply asleep, Malik took hold of the covers and quickly ripped them off the bed, exposing his Dark to the early morning light.

As soon as those first few rays reached Marik's eyelids, his whole face immediately scrunched up and a loud groan left his throat. As he semi-consciously tried to turn over into the dark safety of his covers, which he no longer had, he quickly realized that the light wasn't going to leave. Neither was his own Light as he cracked open one eye to look upon Malik's determined face.

"Come on, Marik. School starts in an hour. Get dressed and I'll meet you downstairs." Malik stated as he turned to leave the room so his Dark could have some privacy. Hearing some breathy muttering, most likely some plan to fall asleep again as soon as he left, Malik turned back in the doorway.

"And if you even think about going back to sleep, I will be back with a big pitcher of wonderfully ice cold water for you to enjoy." Malik said cheerfully, being all too happy to go through with the action if there was no cooperation from his darker half.

Hearing that threat, and remembering the first time it had occurred, Marik quickly hopped out of bed to get dressed before Malik returned. As Malik stood outside the room, listening to the sounds of frantic movements and dressing, Malik began to reflect on the plan for the afternoon.

He personally thought the plan was crazy, and not even the "so crazy it just might work" crazy. To him, is sounded more like, "this is so crazy I don't know why we even agreed to it" crazy. I mean, really, reveal the truth to their crushes in a lie where everything they are told to a certain degree is also a lie. If that doesn't spell disaster, Malik didn't know what did. The endless possibilities of how it could all turn out were staggering, and the absolute uncertainty of it all unnerved Malik to no end. Having realized long ago his more strategic and contemplative nature, Malik had spent the night going over every possible path the dream could take and the consequences. A large majority did not end in their favor. That definitely depressed Malik, even to the point of almost calling Yugi at two in the morning hoping to talk him out of the whole thing. But Joey's words held him back. As convoluted and tricky as their plan was, it was a way to find out the emotions of their other halves. Even with all the ambiguous staging, contradictory information, and personal misgivings, the only thing the plan had going for it was the end result, immediate revealing of their crushes' emotions.

Deciding to be blindly optimistic for one of the first times in his life, Malik had put his cell phone back in his backpack and fell asleep with hopeful thoughts for the next day. Now that the new day had arrived, Malik could only remember how desperate everyone, even he, had been about their situation. Hopefully, those thoughts will be enough to help him make it through school today.

* * *

Joey woke up that morning as he usually did on a school day, to the sound of his drunken father staggering through the apartment. Hearing his father's slurred rants through the door, Joey decided not to risk a confrontation that morning and quickly slid off his beaten mattress to grab his worn clothes.

Now, looking at Joey's room, one would ask, is this even a room at all? The faded beige paint was peeling in jagged strips from the battered walls. Various indentations littered the drywall's surface, a near 95% of them being caused by Joey's slim body being slammed against the wall by his father during past altercations. The only furniture was Joey's bed, if one could call it that, an old, stained mattress left haphazardly on the floor, with only a thin ragged blanket and severely under-stuffed pillow resting on it.

As carefully and quietly as he could, Joey inched over to two boxes beside the bed, the only other objects in the room. Each box contained some of Joey's few clothes and uniforms, and hidden underneath his clothes, his most precious possessions: his deck, a newspaper clipping about him winning a place at Duelist Kingdom, and a priceless photo of him and his sister, Serenity, when they were children.

Getting dressed in record time, Joey grabbed his most important belongings, shoved them in his backpack, and made a beeline for the window, hoping to scale the outside of the building to reach the street before his father found him. But before he could reach the window sill, Joey heard a large crash from the other end of the apartment.

"Joey! Where the Hell are you, you worthless dog!" His father began to shout, rampaging through the halls and rooms, his steps becoming louder and louder the closer he got. Joey visibly flinched at the barely muffled insult coming through the thin walls, forcing Joey's mind to go through every horrible, depressing memory of him and his crush, and how every time he heard that particular insult, from either Seto or his father, it would take every bit of his willpower not to believe it. With his attention momentarily distracted, an unforgivable and potentially suicidal action in his household, Joey barely heard his father's footsteps change direction, heading straight for his room.

Without missing a beat, Joey grabbed onto the window sill and hefted himself out of his room. He landed on a shallow ledge beneath his window, where he quickly grabbed hold of the edge before lowering himself just enough to jump to the alley below him. As soon as his feet touched pavement, Joey sprinted to the end of the alley and hid behind a dumpster. He heard his father crashing into his room as well as his angry yells when he couldn't find his son.

After waiting a few moments until his father's yells could no longer be heard, Joey eased out of his hiding spot to head onto the street. Looking back at the rundown apartment complex and dirty streets, Joey sighed to himself, feeling ashamed of where he lived and what he had gone through.

As Joey began the long trek to school, it became the perfect time to think about the plan for the day. Now, Joey would admit that when he first heard the idea, he had many doubts. Yugi was always a bit of a dreamer in Joey's opinion, constantly looking for good in others and expecting a bright side to every situation. At first, Joey had been stymied by such a lifestyle, considering his own memories of a drunken, abusive parent, uncaring authority figures, a grueling gang life, and a beloved sister that he was forbidden to see by his own mother. How can someone find the strength to always be positive, especially when life is so driven to be cruel and unjust? However, when first getting to know Yugi as a friend, Joey realized that Yugi's dreaming was a coping mechanism, a way to escape his own life of loneliness and isolation due to his lack of friends and unaccepted interest in games. That behavior Joey could sympathize with. Escape, no matter what its form, could be the only thing that can hold a person together when their whole world is falling apart.

But now, with the multiple seemingly one-sided loves and this nearly impossible to fathom dream plan, Joey was beginning to think that Yugi might have finally lost it… Or found it… He still wasn't quite sure. All Joey knew was that, if nothing else, they would at least get answers to their deepest question: would they accept the real us in a romantic relationship?

Out of all the young men, Joey had the most to lose. He had made the huge mistake of falling in love with his male tormentor, the man that had made his life a living Hell every time he entered school grounds, the man that delighted in putting him down for the "dog" his father always told him he was. One can only imagine the shock and shame Joey experienced the first time Seto had called him a "dog." Hearing that accursed taunt fall from his eventual crush's lips had almost destroyed him as he took the remark to mean that all of his peers viewed him as a lowly mongrel, a poor, worthless mutt. To fight for his pride and self-worth was the only response Joey could come up with, which strangely started the tradition of fights and spats that lasted between them for three years.

Now, Joey was regularly thought of as being slow and a bit dumb because of his low grades and troubled past, but that was as far from the truth as the sun was from Pluto. Just because he was denied many educational opportunities due to his rank in society, his horrible home life, and the near endless time-consuming jobs he had been forced to get in order to survive, that never meant that Joey was incapable of learning and excelling. Being pitied by the local librarian had its perks, as well as being taken under the wings of several skilled citizens through odd jobs and his friendly disposition. Joey could boast, if he was that kind of person, of a staggering amount of skills, a veritable "Jack of All Trades", as well as being more well-read than some college professors. The only thing he lacked was the chance to show off his repertoire of talents in front of his peers without being laughed at, mocked, or accused of cheating or lying. He would gladly bet 20 bucks that his English teacher would either faint or send him to the principal's office for cheating if he willingly and eloquently explained the subtext of Shakespeare or Woolf during class.

But with Joey being as incredibly intelligent for his situation, he still had a hard time seeing the reasoning behind the scheme Yugi had come up with. Like Ryou, Joey shared his doubts of their crushes being unrealistically understanding of the reasons behind the convoluted lie they were going to come up with to discover their hidden emotions. Tricking someone into revealing their most vulnerable and secretive thoughts, and expecting no hard feelings, never worked too out well. So why did Yugi pick that exact strategy to work with and why did they all agree to it? Oh, yeah, they were desperate. Very desperate.

Joey sighed again as his thoughts began to come full circle. All four of them were so desperate to find love that they were willing to lie and possibly hurt the ones they love in order to find out if their unrequited feelings are returned, which might not be at the end of this whole charade. With this unquestionably valid thought rooted in his head, Joey mentally groaned at the unfairness of it all. As the high school came within sight, Joey had one last thought before pulling up the mask that all the rest of the world, exempting three special people, knew.

"Why does it seem like the Gods always have it out for us, especially when it involves love?"

* * *

**Author's Notes Part 2: I have fully decided to keep this story mainly SetoJoey, so I'll be focusing on Joey a lot, but also present multiple points of view like in this chapter. I started out this story feeling very lost when trying to choose who to focus the story on, but SetoJoey won in the end. I did this chapter as a sort of test to see if I could handle a large story while completely covering multiple characters and their perspectives. Know this, I will mainly focus on Joey and the Lights. I will have the occasionally section and chapter with only Seto and the Darks to keep the emotional balance. **

**I will try to update again before Labor Day weekend, or at the very latest, by the end of Labor Day weekend.  
**


	4. Enter the Dream

A/N: I am so thrilled to read the reviews of my story and hear such great support! :D

Just so all my readers know, I already have a tentative, slightly detailed, plot for the story planned out. I will try to update as soon as possible now that I have most of the harder work done. Please note that there will be surprises and twists/turns in the near future, so ENJOY!

I do not own the characters, only the plot.

By the way, I am amazed that I updated so fast with this chapter! XD I started it as soon as I uploaded the last one! I'm on a roll!... Oh, and there will be cursing. Egyptian psychos with no cursing? NO!

* * *

As Joey rounded the corner of the school's gate, he caught a glimpse of two sets of multi-colored star-shaped hair coming up the street. Grinning, he waited outside the gate until his friends strolled up beside him.

"Hey, Yug, is Yami awake yet?" Joey laughed, already knowing that Yami was barely functional this early in the morning. Yugi just smiled at him before glancing over at his still groggy Dark, watching carefully if Yami should begin to sway and fall over. It's happened enough times that if not carefully monitored, Yami would end up passed out on the sidewalk, dead asleep even after the impact.

"Sorta. He's getting there." Yugi replied when he saw Yami begin to blink and rub his eyes, a sure sign that he was becoming more aware of his environment and would snap awake. "So, how was your morning, Joey?"

"Oh, same old, same old." Joey replied vaguely, knowing that Yugi would get the hint about his father being drunk once again and almost catching him before he made it outside his apartment. Joey noticed Yugi's expression darken for a moment, but snapped back to a smile when Yami yawned and focused on the people around him.

"Good morning, Joey." Yami greeted, his crimson eyes clearing as he stood straighter and became more alert.

"Mornin' Yami." Joey greeted, smiling a smaller smile as he rested for a moment on the wall. It was customary to wait for the rest of their group before going into the school, seeing as how some of them might need help with uncooperative, sleepy Darks and what not. Yugi and Yami decided to follow his example and leaned against the wall to wait, too.

Within the next ten minutes, Ryou, Bakura, Malik, and Marik had arrived at their spot. Each had their own almost dead to the world Dark that had to be encouraged to stay awake before they entered the gate. Now, at this point, the four younger men wanted to go on into the school for two main reasons: 1) they didn't want to wait for Tea to show up, and 2) Joey wanted to get inside before meeting up with Seto, as he didn't think his nerves could take an argument. Turns out, none of the four got their wish.

"Hey, guys!" A yell was heard, the Lights and Joey inwardly groaning at the sound of Tea's high-pitched voice screeching from down the street. As she ran towards them, Joey could tell that Yugi was very close to bolting into the school just to get away from her. His eyes hardened at the memory of his best friend crying about how Tea would tell him awful things under the guise of friendship in order to break his heart over loving Yami. Just hearing through heart-wrenching sobs some of the horrible sneers and veiled insults that his small friend had had to endure made him want to slap the girl so hard, her unborn children would end up bruised. But what really sealed the girl's fate in Joey's eyes was hearing her plans to go after Seto if she and Yami didn't work out or if she got tired of him. That tore apart any friendship he may have had with the little bitch now running towards them with a bright smile on her hypocritical face.

"Morning everyone." Tea said as she stopped to catch her breath after running down the street. When she looked up, she scanned everyone's face, but stopped only slightly when she saw Yugi. As she stared barely a half second longer than usual before passing on to the next person, Joey secretly observed her behavior. Being on the streets since such a young age, and surviving it all, Joey had learned early on how to read a person's actions and non-verbal communications in order to discover the truth behind often deceitful words. What he saw was coldness directed solely at Yugi in that half second, a distant disgust that six months ago he would never have dreamed could find itself in the girl's eyes. Joey moved an inch in front of Yugi, portraying a sense of protection over the smaller boy. He felt a light touch on his lower back, a signal from Yugi that he appreciated the gesture.

"So, are we going in now?" Tea asked, sounding normally excited about school, or perhaps just a little manic about trying to walk next to Yami into the building, Joey wasn't sure which.

"Not yet. We must wait for Seto to arrive." Yami said, not even noticing how Tea leaned slightly closer to him as he spoke, or how Yugi and Joey tensed for a nanosecond.

"Well, you don't have to wait long, cousin. I'm here." The group heard Seto's voice from right behind them, partially startling Ryou and Malik as they had not heard his approach. Joey just looked away slightly, not saying a word so as not to draw attention to himself. This naturally didn't work as Seto honed in on the blond and his unusual silence.

"Oh, what, the mutt doesn't have anything to say this morning?" Seto asked, a smirk fixed to his face.

Joey growled under his breath, so not in the mood for the CEO's twisted sense of humor.

"I'm not a mutt, jackass. Gods, it's too early for this." Joey said, looking away again. Seto was about to make a comeback, but was interrupted by Yami's cough. He looked over into reprimanding crimson eyes, and wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Well, now that you're here, let's go in." Yami said, leading their group into the school. Yugi followed close to him, but was forced back when Tea had overtaken them and began talking to Yami about some type of nonsense. Yugi looked downcast for a moment before quickly covering it up. Joey noticed this and made his way over to his friend in hopes of distracting him with some conversation. Perhaps he could distract himself as well so he won't have to interact with his crush.

"So, Yug, has Gramps gotten any new shipments of cards lately?" Joey asked, picking a random topic out of his head to pull the younger boy's attention away from his crush and the man-stealing bitch he was talking to.

"What? Oh. Yeah, he did, but most are just the regular stuff. A lot of it we already have, but maybe there are some new ones at the bottom of the boxes. We agreed to taking stock tomorrow and then re-do the shelving."

"That's cool." Joey said, walking a bit slower than normal as he waited until he and Yugi were a few feet behind the group.

"How bad was it this morning, Joey?" Yugi asked quietly, looking around to make sure they were not overheard. Joey seemed to deflate slightly, but answered with a smile anyway.

"Not that bad, Yugi. Don't worry." Joey said, trying to playing it off, but Yugi wasn't buying it. The younger boy stared hard at his blond friend.

"Joey…" Yugi warned, demanding a truthful answer.

"Really, Yugi, it wasn't that bad. I got out before he found me." Joey placated. Yugi searched those amber eyes, and found no lie.

"Good. But seriously Joey, you need to get out. He's never been this violent before. Not two weeks ago you had two bruised ribs, a near broken ankle, and a huge bruise across your back from when you tried to get away!" Yugi admonished, but quietly so no one would hear him.

"I know, but my 18th birthday is in two months. I can hang on till then." Joey said.

"Are you sure? You know you can always stay with us if you need to." Yugi said, making the same offer he's made for the past month.

"Yugi, if I could survive ten years with the man, I can survive another two months." Joe answered. "And besides, I can't just waltz into your home like that. I'm not going to burden you. It's already a bit of a stretch to support three people in your house, another would be too much."

"But, Joey-"

"Not buts, Yugi. I'll be fine. I've learned the ins and outs of avoiding him. I'll be okay." Joey said confidently. Yugi still didn't look convinced, but gave in to his friend's wishes. As he nodded his assent, he looked up to see the group and Yami, still being talked to by Tea. His eyes turned sad and filled with longing. Seeing how despondent his friend was becoming, Joey stepped in to try and cheer him up.

"You know, if it means anything, I don't think Yami is all that interested in Tea like she wants you to think."

"I guess. It's just, with all the crap she's been giving me, it's becoming harder and harder to believe whenever she gets to talking to him and he forgets I'm even there." Yugi replied, looking down again. Joey's eyes softened at the heartbroken expression on his little buddy's face.

"Hey, Yugi. I know for a fact that he'll never forget you. Never. He just puts up with her prattle because it would be rude otherwise and right now he's still waking up. No one can fight off that crazy bitch when they're that sleepy." Joey said, trying to bring his friend's spirits up. Yugi thought about it for a moment before offering a small, grateful smile.

"Thanks, Joey."

"Hey, Aibou, Joey, hurry up! We'll be late!" Yami yelled. The two boys looked up, seeing the whole group looking at them as they had stopped following and were just standing in the middle of the school's outer yard.

Joey waved and nodded, signaling that they would be along in a moment. "See, what'd I tell you? He didn't forget you."

"It's only because we could be late, not because he wants to be with me." Yugi said, making himself depressed again. Joey just shook his head in sympathy.

"Well, we'll find out soon enough, now won't we?" Joey said, as he began to lead Yugi to the door.

* * *

What neither boy noticed during their whole conversation was the steady observance of one Seto Kaiba. After he had soundly beaten himself up for the comments he made to his Puppy that morning, he watched as Yugi began to hang back after Tea had started talking to Yami. He became curious when Joey had swiftly approached the younger boy and begin talking to him. From his slight vantage point, it had looked like Yugi was disappointed or hurt, but perked up when Joey began to talk about cards and the young boy's family shop.

With Seto Kaiba being Seto Kaiba, it wasn't a large leap of logic to connect the hurt expression on Yugi's face with the appearance of Tea beside Yami. Obviously, the boy didn't like Tea being so close to Yami for some reason. Thinking back on what his cousin was hoping for, being his feelings returned by his little look-alike, Seto began to see the strong possibility of it being true. Sure, years ago when he had been as batty as a fruitcake with all kinds of crazy controlling his mind, it still didn't take much for Seto to see that Yugi had a slight crush on the girl. But over time, thankfully after he had been cured of the "batty as a fruitcake" part but still had some crazy left over, he had also noticed a change of those feelings, most likely the boy overcoming his crush. However, now, it seemed like Yugi didn't like the company of the girl at all anymore, even on a friendship basis. Well, that was a new development.

As he was idly pondering this, while also ogling his Puppy's ass (very nice indeed!), he also noticed some strange behavior coming from his blond crush. He noticed when, as soon as Yugi began to pull away from Yami and Tea, Joey had immediately approached the smaller boy and talked to him, instantly taking away his downcast expression. Seeing the looks that Joey was giving Yugi, as well as the few unreadable glances at Tea with Yami, it became obvious that Joey knew to some degree why Yugi was so upset.

It always brought a warm feeling to Seto's heart when he witnessed the caring, nurturing nature the blond possessed. He had been witness to so many instances where Joey, the so-called toughest street thug in the city, would project this inviting, caring aura to those around him. His bright smiles and warm honey eyes could melt even the coldest of hearts, his own being a prime example, and make any person feel better about a problem. To Seto, Joey seemed to embody the very idea of good humor and laughter, smiles and cheer. It's no wonder Seto fell for his blond Puppy.

All of Seto's life, the only source of love and companionship had come from his brother. From their earliest memories of the orphanage where they had lived, all the way through the dark years under Gozaburo Kaiba's tyrannical reign over them, his little brother had always been there to guide him back to the light and to who he used to be. However, over the last few years when he had a psychotic breakdown, got mixed up in all the "save the world with a card game" nonsense, and then discover a past life full of harsh memories on top of running a multi-billion dollar corporation, there was only so much Mokuba could do for him. Even though Mokuba had repeatedly stated that he was there to help Seto and listen to him should he have any problems, Seto just didn't think it was fair to the boy to take away his childhood just to pacify the overwhelming sense of responsibility and stress his brother was under. Seto had sacrificed so much in order to give Mokuba a better life filled with freedom, and he succeeded. He just couldn't take that all away with his own problems. And besides, there are some things that can only be told to a more intimate person than a brother: a lover.

This is where Joey comes in. Seto will admit that he did not like the blond boy when he had first met him. This cocky, rough, upstart young man that had dared to challenge Seto's near unquestionable power and Seto wanted to make him pay. That's why he had accepted the boy's offer to duel. When he won, which he already knew he would, he couldn't help but shove the victory in the other boy's face. He wanted to see those amber eyes bow down in defeat, to surrender to his own superior skills. Instead, after insulting the boy and calling him a "dog", the boy shocked Seto by fighting back just as hard. To see those blazing eyes, burning a near molten gold, froze Seto to his core. To see such fiery passion, so close and yet so different to his own icy resolve, had forever carved a spot in Seto's mind for the young man before him.

For the next few years, with the near constant interaction (fights), Seto had become more and more intrigued by the blond. Of course, he had heard the stories: how Joey lived in the worst neighborhood in town, how he used to belong to a ruthless gang that had terrorized the streets, how he used to bully Yugi but became his friend after some accident, and how no matter what the young CEO said to the boy, he would always fight back, with either words or fists, never backing down from a challenge.

To see such determination in another person, someone so like and unlike himself, Seto eventually became infatuated with the blond, constantly starting fights so that Joey's attention was focused solely on him. All he wanted was to have those perfect honey eyes directed at him, and only him. To possess and love such a creature, such a feisty, loving, humorous, carefree individual was a dream that often consumed Seto's lonely nights in his king-sized bed. Many times he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, his mind whirling over the many expressions his Puppy made in school, how he sounded when he laughed with his friends, and how his body looked so alluring as he played in Gym. Other nights he would sleep, but his dreams would be filled with messy blond hair, bright amber eyes, and a loving smile. It didn't take long after the first few dreams, some of which being way too mature for PG-13 audiences, he had to finally admit that he had fallen for his Puppy. But just like the other Darks, that's where all the trouble started. Stupid cowardice…

When Seto snapped back to reality, he had noticed like the rest of the group that Joey and Yugi were no longer among them. Turning back, he saw Yugi looking harshly at Joey before something the blond said calmed him down. He could see a look of disappointment and worry cross those amethyst eyes before he looked up at the group. Now he could see the look had changed to one of longing and sadness, an odd mirror of his own feeling for his Puppy. But before he could take this thought further, the young boy turned his attention back to Joey who had said something to pull that hopeless look of Yugi's face. When Seto tried to reason out why the boy would have that look, Yami had to interrupt his musings by yelling to the two boys to hurry up before the tardy bell. Seeing the blond wave and nod, Seto decided that he shouldn't worry too much about it and entered the school.

* * *

The first few classes seemed to both fly by and take an eternity to end. When the lunch bell sounded, practically everyone gave a sigh in relief, especially Joey. For the three Lights, who were already privy to the blond's home life, they weren't surprised when Joey produced a grateful smile when lunch came around. Ryou and Malik were able to figure out, from Yugi's hints, that Joey had had to escape his father that morning and never had the chance to have breakfast. Each of the Lights found this information very unsettling, knowing that Joey must have endured years of near starvation when his father's drunken rages and greed took away from Joey's growing body and needs. It was no wonder that he ate the way he did, always in a rush to eat before someone took it away, and constantly stuffing himself to build up energy when the next meal was uncertain. A growing tradition was the three boys purposely bringing extra snacks or a sandwich to give to Joey, acting like they packed too much and wouldn't want anything to go to waste. Joey's appreciation at the gesture always shined through a big smile at the full meal he received.

After lunch, Yugi noticed that he had forgotten his English book in his locker. Excusing himself, he quickly darted out the door and down the hall, hoping to grab the book before the next class bell. He skidded to a stop in front of his locker, swiftly opening it and grabbed his book. But before he could close the door, he heard a voice.

"Hello Yugi." It was Tea. Yugi would know those false sweet tones anywhere.

"Tea." Yugi replied, barely keeping the hard edge of his voice in check. He had learned that Tea would purposely approach him when he was alone to talk down to him and insult him, creating the situation that if he told anyone, namely Yami, about her behavior, it would be reduced to a "he said-she said." He wouldn't have any witnesses to what she did, and he expected her to play the innocent, betrayed friend card to get out of his accusations. He was very fortunate that his fellow Lights and Joey believed him, which happened after they all overheard her plans for Yami and Seto one day after school, because he knew that if he took too long and Tea nowhere to be seen, then Joey, Ryou, and Malik would figure out what happened and come looking for him. All he had to do was either quickly escape her or wait for his friends to show up.

"Aw, no 'Hello' back. How rude, Yugi. I thought you liked me." Tea replied, allowing sarcasm and acid to color her tone. He shut his locker door and turned to glare at her.

"I don't like you. Not after what you've done to me." Yugi ground out.

"And what's that, helping out a friend?" Tea retorted, a cold look overcoming her face. "I'm just looking out for your best interests."

"Ha! That's a laugh, Tea. You're only looking out for yourself. You're trying to drive me and Yami apart so you can trap him with your lies." Yugi's gaze filled with hatred and loathing, recollecting her lies and deceit in order to get close to his Dark.

"But it's true. I'm just trying to soften the blow when Yami," Tea stopped speaking long enough to get this sickening, lustful dreamy look before returning to her sentence, "decides to tell you to quit smothering him. You hang on to his hip every second of every day, and he's getting tired of it. I'm just telling you beforehand so you can save yourself the embarrassment."

"Oh really, but what about you? You latch your claws onto him every chance you get, going on and on about absolutely nothing with the hopes that he listening to you! Do you even see how he doesn't care about a thing you say?"

"YOU LIAR!" Tea yelled, her face growing a sunburned red in anger. "You're the little shit that's standing in my way of being with MY beloved Yami! He does listen to me! He'll never love you!"

Yugi didn't answer, but glared harder at her. Her words cut him deeply, the nagging doubts about his unrequited love returning. He couldn't let Tea and her lies take away his hope, but it was becoming more and more difficult. It was at that moment that he caught a glimpse of blond hair walking down the hallway, followed by white and platinum hair. His friends were coming for him!

"What about Seto, huh? What about your plans for him?" Yugi asked, smugly watching the girl's eyes widen in surprise at him knowing her secret agenda for the CEO, but returned to glaring back at him.

"Oh? Him? Well, a girl has to have a backup in case her Plan A doesn't work out." Tea replied flippantly, like she didn't even care about stringing two guys along.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yugi saw the blond person stop suddenly before moving slowly forward. He could tell that Joey had heard every word she had said, and boy, was he going to be pissed. He focused his attention back to Tea, realizing that she hadn't noticed his friends approaching from the side.

"But now that I think about, if me and Seto don't work out either, why not go after the whole set, hm?" Tea said devilishly. Yugi couldn't help but gape at her, already catching on to what she was saying. She was going after ALL the Darks!

"What did you just say?" Yugi cried out, his eyes wide at her implication. Tea looked down at him, sniffing impatiently like dealing with a slow child.

"I said, why not have them all? A girl of my beauty could always benefit from a harem of strong, handsome, devoted boyfriends. So, why not?" Tea laughed. However, her haughty laughter was cut short by an enraged yell.

"YOU BITCH! HOW DARE YOU GO AFTER THEM?" Ryou shouted, his normally calm, serene face contorted with fury. Malik and Joey were no different, each expressing their anger at the audacity the brunette girl was showing.

"Oh look, it's the rest of the Gay Parade." Tea said in mock surprise, her eyes turning hateful as she looked at the four boys. "You won't be able to stop me, none of you. I'll have them all in the palm of my hand and you'll have nothing. I'll make sure of it."

"You conniving little whore! It's not enough that you torture Yugi when we're not around, but now you think you can have all of our Darks and Seto just because you think you should? What the Hell is wrong with you?" Malik exclaimed, his lavender eyes so hard with outrage they could cut diamonds.

"Nothing's wrong with me, you Egyptian runt. I just know what I'm meant to have. Ever since Yami," The disgusting dreamy look was back again, "arrived in our world, I knew we were meant to be. But all of you and your stupid apocalypse problems got in the way. Now that the world's not going to be fucked again anytime soon, I'll take my prize."

"Let me make one thing absolutely clear, Tea. Don't even think of going after any of them! We will stop your crazy scheme and tell them everything! Stay away or you will REGRET IT!" Joey stated as he slowly approached the girl, every inch of him the tough-as-nails, no bullshit street fighter/gangster that he used to be. His usually warm eyes turned ice cold while still being blazing hot, the finality in his clipped, harsh tone reaching out to her, freezing her instantly in fear. He enjoyed watching her blue eyes widen with the knowledge that he could take her out right now and no one would know. She had made sure of no witnesses earlier, but that part of her plan had now backfired. She took one last look before taking off, practically flying down the hallway to escape, happily heading to a class she didn't share with any of them.

When she was gone, Joey turned to Yugi, his eyes searching for any injury that she might have caused.

"I'm okay, Joey. She didn't do anything, just spout more crap." Yugi answered. His eyes lowered, becoming tired of the emotional overload he seemed to be experiencing on daily basis. He sighed as he readjusted his book in his arms and made to go back to class, which remarkably hadn't started yet. The others wanted to say something, but each had their own negative thoughts to contend with over what the girl had said. But Joey made the point perfectly clear.

"Great, now she's a threat to all of us!"

* * *

After school, the group had decided to migrate to the park to start their English study session. Thankfully, Tea had not shown up in any of the other classes they shared for the rest of the day, clearly confusing some of the members of the group except Yugi, Ryou, Malik and Joey. Joey in particular couldn't help the smug smile he had when the girl never showed up for class, the teacher receiving a note that she had gotten sick and went home for the day.

However, as soon as he thought that, he began to worry. Now that she was no longer under observation, Tea had all the free time in the world to figure out the perfect plan for revenge. Who knows what the crazy nut would come up with? Deciding to worry about that later, Joey put it out of his mind and focused on the present. They four boys were going to enact their plan very soon, so they had to be ready.

From what they had gone over last night, Joey knew that Malik had raided his sister's stuff, herbs, and ancient spell books to find the perfect spell for the job. He had gathered the necessary items, which were hidden in his backpack, and would covertly begin the spell when the time was right. The spell would take a minute or two to complete, but with everyone working together to distract Marik and the other Darks, no one should be the wiser. Now, the magic needed to perform the spell had the possibility of being noticed by the spirits, but hopefully, the enchantment would begin as soon as the last word was uttered, quickly doping the older boys and sending them to sleep. The younger boys would have exactly two minutes before the effects got to them as well, so they had to pick a safe location to perform the spell and make everything look natural to the occasional passersby.

As they made their way across the park, Joey was on the lookout for the perfect spot to settle down. He knew that the open areas were unacceptable. If anyone should see eight young men instantly pass out, then emergency services would be called and a whole lot of trouble would follow. The picnic areas were just as bad, so no go. Looking for something shaded and slightly hidden, Joey found the perfect spot. It was a location under a large willow tree beside a small pond. The area was well-shaded and partially obscured by bushes on both sides. If anything were to happen, no one would see anything. If anyone were to walk close enough, they would see a bunch of high school kids with open textbooks, most likely taking a break from studying and napping.

"Hey, guys, over there." Joey pointed over to the spot. The others looked at it for a moment before it passed inspection, the whole group going over and plopping down on the ground. Joey sighed in relaxation at the cool feel of the grass, the nice breeze, and calming air. He heard a deep chuckle from above him that could only come from one person. Opening his tired eyes, he found he was correct.

"So the dog likes to roll around in the grass, huh?" Seto pointed out, a smirk on his face as he looked at Joey. Joey's eyes hardened a bit, already biting his tongue against the stinging comeback yearning to jump out of his mouth.

"So what if I do? It's comfortable." Joey defended as he wiggled to get even more comfortable just to spite the other boy. "And I'm not a dog!"

"You're just proving my point further, mutt." Seto stated, turning away to sit underneath the tree. Joey watched him walk away, his expression hiding the immense hurt that the insults caused him. He couldn't help the various thoughts running through his head at the brunet's behavior and their fights.

_Why the Hell do I put up with this? I get enough of it from my dad! Why do I put up with him?...Oh, yeah, I love that bastard. Lucky me…_ Joey thought, sighing to himself as he laid back down on the grass.

After a few minutes, the group had taken out their English books and began to go over the material. But it seemed like as soon as they got started, there were already problems.

"Explain this to me again, what are we doing?" Bakura growled as he looked at the worksheet the teacher had given them. He just couldn't make head or tails of it.

"Well, Bakura, we're supposed to read the book and compare the characters with people in our lives." Ryou answered, pointing out the purpose on the paper. "Although, that might be difficult since the characters of Alice in Wonderland are very unique and complex, so providing a detailed answer might be tricky." _Oh, if you only knew…_

"Gods, that sounds complicated." Bakura complained, not too used to the modern day thought processes of analyzing literature.

"It's supposed to be, Thief. The teacher is insane." Yami piped in, also looking a little lost with the assignment. Yugi just laughed a bit in agreement, looking at his own copy. _Maybe after the spell wears off, you'll have an answer for the homework…_

"Whatever, it looks like a waste of time to me." Marik said, all too willing to blow it off, but was cowed by the glare from his Light.

"You have to do it, Marik. It's part of the agreement Ishizu gave you. No slacking off." Malik chastised his Dark. Marik looked ready to start whining again, but a harder look forced him to pick the sheet back up and look at it. Malik, looking satisfied that his Dark was complying, returned to his own private work. Thinking about the spell he needed to perform, he would have to mix two or three ingredients right in the bag as their potency was short-lived. He needed a distraction…

"Marik, if you're having such a hard time, why not go over to Ryou and he'll explain it better." Malik offered. When Marik looked at him funny, but Malik quickly came up with an excuse. "I need to find my own sheet and it might be buried in my bag, and besides, Ryou can explain it a lot better than I can."

With that Malik dove into his bag while Marik got up and walked over to Ryou and Bakura. Malik could feel Ryou's eyes on his back, probably cursing him about being put in charge of two Egyptian psychos with English Nazi-grade critical thinking assignments. As he felt around the contents of his bag, he caught hold of the three bottles with the various pre-mixed ingredients in it. He quickly popped the tops of two and mixed them, muttering the spell under his breath. He was about to pop the other one open to mix the last two vials when he heard Marik call his name. Knowing that he couldn't stop speaking without ruining everything, he desperately looked towards Joey, who was the closest, to cover for him. Joey caught his meaning and nodded.

"Malik can't answer you right now, Marik. He's cursing our teacher because she might have forgotten to give him the sheet to begin with. He hasn't found it so far." Joey said, easily covering for the other boy and allowing him to finish the spell. He watched closely as Malik maneuvered the bottles within the bag, his lips constantly moving, forming archaic words that no longer had modern meanings.

With the barely audible pop of the last bottle, he poured those contents into the last bottle, watching in rapt attention as the vial began to glow a strange green-blue-red in the darkness of his bag, the colors shifting and swirling against the glass. He could feel the sides becoming warm as a light mist rose from the opening. At first, he was afraid the others would notice a strange colored gas coming from his bag, but the hues quickly dissipated into a clear vapor. As it rose past his arm, he could feel a slight warmth from the gas as it swiftly spread and enveloped the group. All of a sudden, Yami, Bakura, Marik, and Seto began to yawn, and their eyes were beginning to droop. The other boys could see the confusion on their faces, most likely thinking about how they weren't so tired before but could now barely keep their eyes open. Of course, one would expect some protests or exclamations about the sudden drowsiness, but their minds also began to slow, becoming fogged with sleep and fatigue.

At last, the three Darks and CEO were unconscious, slumped over in the grass and against the tree. The younger boys looked at them closely, wondering if the spell would hold. Yugi tapped Yami on the shoulder, even shaking him, but not one sound or movement resulted. The other Lights and Joey did the same, and it was agreed the spell did its job. Now all they had to do was take the remaining time to focus on the dream world they were creating. The four boys sat next to their respective crush, leaned back, closed their eyes, and began to dream. They dreamed of their characters, their surroundings, their clothing, and the journey they would undertake. They dreamed of the people they would meet, and the places they would go. And lastly, they dreamed of love fulfilled for each of them.

They had already decided to base as much of the dream on reality as possible. They wanted to put their crushes in situations where they would be able to see their Lights' true selves, situations where all of their hidden strengths were revealed. Each of the boys felt the presence of the gas enter their bodies, forcefully relaxing tense muscles and frazzled nerves. They could feel their focus drifting, spiraling towards a foreign realm where a person's wildest fantasies, dreams, and nightmares could come true…

"….What the fucking Shadow Realm just happened to us?"


	5. Follow the White Rabbit

A/N: I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING SOONER! D: I HUMBLY BEG FORGIVENESS FROM MY GRACIOUS REVIEWERS AND READERS! This past three weeks have been horribly hectic and I've barely slept at all. Plus, dreaded writer's block and I was sick over the past weekend… WITH EXAMS!

Okay, now that the groveling is over…

I know that some of you may be impatient to learn what happened next, right?

Well, I have come to you and bring great tidings! We are now in WONDERLAND! XD…Sorta.

Do note that the character designs described were born before the first chapter. I will try to put up some sketches on my DA account (found on my profile) if anyone wants to see how they're dressed. If you really want me to, please leave a review or message telling me so. I'd have to redo them a bit, clean up here and there, and color (WITH MY NEW TABLET! WHOOT!)…But they look HOT! Bring on the raunchy, hottie, leather-loving Lights!

I don't own the characters, just the plot.

And if anyone is still wondering, this story was inspired by Reizbar-Ookami's Katsuya in Wonderland!

* * *

"…What the fucking Shadow Realm just happened to us?"

Yami groaned at hearing Bakura's ranting, his loud, gruff voice amplifying the splitting headache he somehow had. When he opened his eyes, the sunlight burned his retinas, causing him to hiss in complaint as he snapped them shut again. When he opened them a second time, he saw the sky and the branches of the willow tree above him. Pulling himself up off the grass, he looked around to find Bakura (still ranting), Marik (looking incredibly confused and a bit dazed), and Seto (just looking extremely pissed off). Bakura's loud exclamations were now getting on his nerves.

"Will you shut the fuck up, Bakura? You're giving everyone a headache." Yami snapped, his crimson eyes flashing at the thief. Bakura stopped yelling long enough to stomp over to the ex-Pharoah and grab him by the shirt, lifting him up to his face.

"Oh, I'm giving you a headache, huh? What about what just happened to us? What the Hell happened?" Bakura shouted into Yami's face.

Yami ripped out of Bakura's grip. "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you notice how we all passed out earlier? It's like we were drugged! And what happened to our Lights and Joey?" Bakura yelled, waving his arms around him, trying to prove his point.

Yami, Seto and Marik froze. They had completely forgotten their crushes when they were coming out of their abnormal sleep! They instantly started looking around, but couldn't find the other four boys anywhere. The only things they found were their crushes' bags and books, still lying on the grass where they left them. They got up and spread out, searching the surrounding bushes, behind trees, even going back to the picnic areas and public bathrooms, but the result was the same.

Their loves were GONE!

But what was strange about their disappearance was that while searching for their crushes, they also didn't run into a single person in the park. No one else, besides themselves, seemed to be in the park. They didn't even hear the birds calling or the insects buzzing. This struck the four young men as being a bit unusual, but this feeling was eclipsed by their loves' absences.

"Where could they have gone? Surely, Yugi would have woken me up to tell me if they were going anywhere?" Yami wondered out loud, his heart beating like a humming bird's wings when he could not find his beloved Aibou. Marik just kept looking around, a forlorn, scared expression on his normally crazed face. He was distractedly rubbing his arms as if trying to cope with the loss of his dear Light. Seto, on the other hand, held his face in an emotionless mask. Yami doubted anyone could have figured out how worried about Joey the brunet was unless one paid attention to his unconsciously clenching fists and white knuckles.

"Ryou would have done the same thing. This doesn't feel right. Not right at all…" Bakura muttered, as he began to pace. All of a sudden he stopped and turned, practically diving for his bag, and dumping the contents onto the ground. Shoving over various books, pencils, knives (at which he gave a barely sheepish look to Yami's glare), he finally found his maroon cell phone that Ryou had bought for him months ago.

"What are you doing?" Marik asked, walking over to stand next to Bakura.

"I'm calling Ryou. He NEVER goes anywhere without his phone. He got me this in case of emergencies, and I think this qualifies as an emergency!"

When he dialed the number, the phone connected and began to ring. So did Ryou's bag on the ground besides Bakura's feet. Bakura's eyes widened and he groaned, lifting up Ryou's bag and finding the boy's pearl white cell phone, completely abandoned by its owner and ringing.

"Oh, this is really bad." Bakura mumbled, staring in horror at the white phone.

At Bakura's expression, the other Darks attempted calling their Lights, even Seto tried calling Joey, although, how he got the boy's number is a bit of a mystery (not really, stalker!), but with the same results. Each of the boy's phones had been left behind with their bags and books.

"OH RA, what if someone kidnapped them?" Yami cried out, on the verge of a full-blown panic attack as he began to pull on his star-shaped hair.

"Hikari-Pretty!" Marik wailed, now starting to cry as he huddled on the ground.

"That couldn't have happened. Joey would have fought off anyone who tried." Seto retorted while trying to keep his own anxiety in check.

"Maybe, but what if Blondie was incapacitated beforehand, or maybe he was forced to submit if one of the others had been captured and threatened?" Bakura shouted, fully immersed in his paranoia. Seto just looked at him in shock, suddenly recalling all the times Joey had sacrificed himself for his friends and put himself in harm's way, not even caring about his own safety.

"SHIT!" Seto cursed, now seeing the total and most likely possibility of something like that having happened.

"Yeah, shit, Priest! What are we going to do? We have no idea where they could be or who might have taken them!" Bakura raged, his near inexhaustible temper for the last ten minutes revealing how much he needed his calmer, more collected Light in order to keep him balanced.

As Yami and Bakura began to both argue over and discuss the disappearance of their crushes, an amazing feat considering the yelling and rationalizing that had to take place at the same time to make it work, Marik had been reduced to curling up on the ground, rocking back and forth while whimpering, and Seto leaning against the tree, trying to calm himself down over the absence of his Puppy. He wasn't succeeding.

After another five minutes of listening to constant arguing from Yami and Bakura, with a few pathetic sobs from Marik, Seto was just about ready to snap and beat them all within an inch of the their lives when he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. _What was that?_

He turned his head to peer through some of the taller bushes beside the willow tree and saw a flash of red and white. The red was shiny, like paint or latex, but the white was swishy, mobile…Could that be white hair? ...OH RA, IT WAS WHITE HAIR!

"I think I see Ryou, over there!" Seto yelled to the others as he kept his gaze fixed firmly on the white and red object as it darted between bushes, always kept mostly out of sight but providing enough evidence that is was indeed white hair.

"WHERE?" Bakura demanded, pushing over next to Seto, searching diligently for whatever Seto had seen. At first he didn't see anything, but then…there! That was it! He saw it!

Without a moment's hesitation, Bakura raced past the bushes and took off towards the glimpse of moving colors. He jumped over ditches and flower beds, around shrubs and trees, until he reached the spot that he had seen the colors last. As the other three boys ran up behind him, huffing from sprinting off so suddenly, they began to look around for Ryou. They looked behind whatever foliage they could see, but didn't find anything. That's when they heard it.

"Oh crap, I'm so late! He is so gonna kill me for this!"

Bakura froze. He would know that lyrical voice anywhere. Shoving through one final bush, he tried to find the one he was looking for. However, when he spied to owner of the voice, his brain officially ground to a halt and his jaw dropped to ground. When the others noticed his behavior, they sidled up to him to see what his was looking at.

"OH MY RA, WHAT IS HE WEARING?"

And just like that, everyone's chins had landed in the begonias they were currently standing over.

Before them stood Ryou. But, wait, not the Ryou they knew. Oh, no, this couldn't be the Ryou they knew at all.

The young man standing in front of them, seemingly unaware of their presence, looked like a sexier, gorgeous, incredibly sultry Ryou. Of course, the young man looked exactly like Ryou, from his long layered white hair to his large, chocolate eyes, all the way down to that frustrated frown that Ryou would get whenever Bakura forgot his homework at home because he neglected to do it the night before.

Other than the familiar expressions and voice, everything else just seemed so out of place, but oh so HOT! The Ryou-clone was dressed head to toe in various shades of red leather. Starting from the ground up, he had on deep crimson boots coming up to his knees with gold buckles on the side. He had on rich cherry red leather pants that barely made it past his hips they were so low cut. Fastened to the belt loops of the low cut pants was a large rose red belt, spotted with gold studs that shined in the sunlight. Hanging off the side of the belt was a golden pocket-watch attached to a gold chain. His navel was bared to the air, showing off a tight, toned stomach that had Bakura absently drooling. On his top was a vest shirt of bright vermillion with two gold buttons before the collar fanned out, revealing a pale collarbone and upper chest. His sleeves began as sheer blood red silk that puffed out over his shoulders, leaving the shaped slightly blurred underneath. The rest of his sleeves, also vermillion leather, were skin tight all the way to his wrists where they ended with gold cufflinks attached to large cuffs. Around the albino's neck was a dark red choker with what looked to be a small, spiked ring pendant.

Overall, seeing his normally demure, easily embarrassed Light dressed so provocatively almost made Bakura's head explode with the raging waterfall of hormones and fantasies crashing in his mind.

"Shit!" Cursed the Ryou-clone, startling Bakura out of his x-rated fantasies. He had never heard his Light curse before! He watched as the boy picked up the pocket-watch from his belt and clicked it open, his brown eyes narrowing in even greater frustration. It was at that moment that Bakura noticed where the gold chain attached the pocket-watch to. He was stunned to see the gold chain leading up the boy's side until it connected to a GOLD BELLY-BUTTON RING! How the Egyptian thief missed that little extra when he was recently staring at the boy's stomach, he'll never know. They could only watch helplessly when the albino closed the watch, hooked it back onto his belt, and took off running through the park

Seeing their only means of an explanation of their circumstances begin to run away, the older boys had unanimously agreed to chase after the wayward albino. They tracked him through two more gardens until he stopped in front of another willow tree, a tree that none of the older boys had ever noticed in the park before. At the base of the tree was a large rose bush, covered in red, white, and surprisingly black roses hidden amongst emerald leaves. The leather clad boy approached the bush and firmly grabbed hold of it.

Bakura was about to shout out a warning to the boy, wanting to keep those delicate pale hands away from the sharp thorns, but was kept quiet when Yami slapped a hand over his mouth. Turns out the warning wasn't needed when the boy easily lifted the whole bush and placed it to the side without injury. Now the hidden young men could see that the bush was actually a cover, just a bunch of branches tied together to look like a real shrub. As soon as the cover was removed, they watched as Ryou looked down at the spot where it once resided. Puzzled over what he could possibly be looking at, as they couldn't see from that distance, they weren't able to form an idea as the Ryou-clone jumped up and then vanished.

The hidden boys were stunned by the sudden disappearance of the albino. Snapping out their trance, they all ran over to where the boy had vanished. It was only Yami and Seto's quick reflexes that kept Bakura from falling into a huge, dark, and seemingly bottomless hole nestled in the roots of the tree.

"What the Hell happened to him?" Bakura yelled, his voice filled with panic as he had watched the boy allegedly jump to his death.

"He jumped. That's what happened." Seto remarked dryly. Bakura turned his furious eyes to the brunet, about to tackle him when he felt a hand on his arm. He turned back to see the Pharaoh.

"He may have jumped, but I don't think he was harmed. You remember what he said. He stated that he was late for something. Obviously he wouldn't commit suicide when he had a previous engagement."

Bakura seemed to take an odd amount of comfort from his former enemy's words, forcing himself to take deep breaths and calm down. When he had collected himself enough, he made a decision.

"We have to follow him."

The other three boys just looked at him, a bit shocked.

"Are you crazy?" Seto yelled. Bakura just turned his determined eyes to the brunet.

"No. For once in my life, I'm completely sane. Ryou, or whoever that was, just jumped into that hole. He may be the only one with answers to whatever the Hell is going on here. We are following him. End of discussion." Bakura stated. When Seto, Marik, and Yami still didn't look too convinced, Bakura decided to use another tactic. "What about Joey, Malik, and Yugi, huh? They have to be wherever Ryou went. I'd bet every piece of gold I've ever stolen that if we follow Ryou, we find the others."

Hearing the names of their crushes put new fire into the other boys' eyes. They needed to find their loves, and if that meant jumping into an unknown hole going to an unknown place, so be it. It's not like they never faced uncertain odds before. As they turned their eyes to the hole, they stepped up to the edge. Looking down at the unending blackness, they steeled their nerves before taking a breath and stepping off the ground.

The darkness quickly consumed them, air whipping past their ears as it howled into the abyss. The boys didn't scream, even though they wanted to very badly. The sense of weightlessness tossed and turned their stomachs as they twisted in mid-air, their clothes flapping harshly against their skin. The pitch-blackness of the hole destroyed all light, leaving each of the boys completely blind. They had no idea where the sides of the hole were, or even if there were any. A vast, endless space surrounded them.

For those unknown seconds, it seemed like the entire world had disappeared and they were left in the void of nonexistence. For Marik and Bakura, the hole was eerily similar to the Shadow Realm, the absence of light painfully felt by any soul sentenced to its confines. For Yami, it became eerily familiar to his five thousand years trapped in the Sennen Puzzle, forbidden from seeing the outside world. Seto, however, saw it differently. He related the darkness to his younger years lost under the tyrannical rule of Gozaburo Kaiba. As these uncomfortable and queasy emotions were filling the heads of our wayward travelers, none seemed to notice the quickly approaching ground. Until they hit it…

Slamming into the ground, our darling group decided, was NOT fun. As they eventually succeeded in breathing again, after having the ever-loving wind knocked out of them, they were able to pry their eyes open long enough to gather their wits and survey their surroundings. They looked up from their spots on the dirt floor, but could no longer see the opening of the hole they came in. That would have meant falling much farther than they thought. Very strange.

As they pulled themselves up off the ground, they wandered for a moment, searching for a way out of what they assumed was a cave. The rock walls were smooth and dry, made of some blackish stone that looked very unfamiliar. As they turned a small corner, they noticed light bouncing off the walls, causing them to glitter. When the approached the opening of the cave, the light became brighter, almost too bright to see. They were forced to squint as they reached the mouth of the cave.

Stepping out into the light, the four boys waited until their eyes adjusted to the light. When they vision cleared, they were shocked by what they found.

"This can't be possible!" Seto exclaimed as he looked at what was obviously a forest, filled with rich green trees with strange purple-colored trunks and branches. Looking up, the CEO saw an actual sky, though somewhat dimmed in the late afternoon light. The others were just as confused and speechless. How was an entire forest, even an entire new land, found underneath Domino Park?

There stunned examination of this new place was derailed quickly with a swift interruption.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHY THE HELL DID YOU FOLLOW ME?"

* * *

**A/N: Again, I am so sorry for not updating sooner. Sickness, exams, and all around hectic college life stole what strength and focus I had whenever I wanted to upload this chapter. But, now that is OVER! I will try to get back on my schedule of having a chapter a week, or at the latest, a week and a half. Also, I'm sorry if this chapter isn't as up to par like the others, but writer's block hit me upside my head like a brick to the face. It hurt...very badly. ( **

**Also, if anyone does want pics of the new Lights and Joey, although I'm thinking of calling Joey another Light to save time, I will try to upload some either this weekend or over the next two weeks. It will take time since I'm new to the ways of the Tablet. But let me assure you, they are HOT! XD  
**


	6. Welcome to Wonderland

A/N: I cannot tell you how SORRY I am for not updating for a month! FOR SHAME ON ME! DX

I have been dealing with loads of exams and unbelievable writer's block….And it will show up later in this chapter. I tried to make the first encounter more interesting and funny….but nothing incredible and awesome came of it. Also, because of my brain dying while writing this chapter, I'll have to put most of the things I wanted in the next when another character will be revealed.

SO PLEASE! DON'T GIVE UP ON ME! I SWEAR TO DO BETTER NEXT CHAPTER! (crosses heart)

However, to appease my readers, I have already put up two Light sketches on my DA profile. To see the finished RYOU and YUGI sketches, go to: http:/ green-eyed-demon (dot) deviantart(dot) com. This will take you to my DA profile, and go to Featured to see them.

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS OF MY SKETCHES EITHER ON MY DA PROFILE OR ON THIS CHAPTER! FEEDBACK IS MUCH LOVED AND APPRECIATED!

Secondly, my basic plot outline is still holding, and a reviewer (**YJ**) has mentioned Tea somehow entering the dream to mess it up. Well…..maybe and maybe not. There is a surprise in motion for just such a happening, but I will not reveal anything just yet. All in good time, my pretties!

Thirdly, once again I don't own the characters….

….Because if I did, no one would need fanfiction because everyone's yaoi fantasies would come true!

* * *

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHY THE HELL WERE YOU FOLLOWING ME?"

Bakura flinched at the angry tone, too used to Ryou's surprisingly fierce reprimands whenever the Thief messed up or decided to steal something just for old time's sake. Twisting his ducked head around, he came face to face with the leather-clad Ryou person, and he froze.

Now, he didn't freeze because of the suspicion-filled, frightening glare emanating from those chocolate brown eyes. He didn't freeze because of the better view of his Light's incredibly lithe body up close and personal in scorching red patent leather. He didn't even freeze because of the medium sized, frighteningly sharp golden dagger that mysteriously appeared in Ryou's hand, now pointed at his throat.

No. Bakura froze at the sight of two slender, white rabbit ears sprouting from the top of Ryou's skull.

…Well, that's something you don't see every day.

Bakura was too focused on the ears to notice that his prolonged silence and obvious neglect of Ryou's question was seriously pissing the smaller albino boy off. The boy's eyebrow was twitching almost uncontrollably, which the other Darks took notice of, before the younger boy decided that enough was enough. When Bakura tilted his head in blatant curiosity over the ears, his hand subconsciously making its way upwards to feel their velvety softness, Ryou pulled back his dagger hand and bonked Bakura over the head with his fist, the butt of the handle cracking against skull.

"OWWW! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" Bakura yowled, clutching his head in pain. Man, did Ryou have an arm on him! When did he get so strong?

"I did that so that you would answer my damn question, idiot!" Ryou shouted, his eyes blazing.

Bakura just looked at him in shock. His Ryou had never been so confrontational or violent before. In fact, for as long as Bakura had known the young Brit, Ryou had never resorted to violence of any kind, even when extremely angry or irritated. And just hearing more curses sprouting from the boy's lips kept throwing Bakura off…but in a surprisingly good way.

Bakura had never encountered a confident, strong, independent Ryou before. And if he was completely honest with himself, he liked it. Something had always seemed slightly off whenever his Ryou would back down from a fight, always submitting without standing up for himself. He could instinctively feel that his Light was stronger than that, that he could be so much more if he tried. Even in his wandering daydreams, Bakura had wondered what it would be like if Ryou was more open and confident in himself, if he would still be as attractive as he was before.

Seeing the product of such daydreams standing in front of him, brandishing a dagger the Thief himself would be proud to own, Bakura had to admit, he was turned on. Very on.

"FOCUS, DUMBASS!" Ryou shouted in Bakura's face, finally getting the older boy to pull himself back to reality. When the older boy turned his eyes back to him, he pulled the dagger back to its original position, getting up close and personal with Bakura's jugular. Seeing the older boy gulp slightly made Ryou smirk before his face hardened once more.

"Now that I have your UNDIVIDED attention, I repeat, who are you and why were you following me?"

Bakura looked at the dagger before glancing up to Ryou's face. "We were following you because you're my Ryou and you disappeared. Don't you remember? AND WHY THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE RABBIT EARS?"

"What? How do you know my name? And how am I yours? I've never met you before in my life!" Ryou countered, becoming suspicious once again before his cheeks reddened with rage. "AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY EARS?"

Bakura just stared at him like just grew two more heads. "YOU HAVE FUCKING RABBIT EARS FOR GODS SAKES!"

"I'M SUPPOSED TO! I'M A RABBIT!" Ryou screamed back. "Oh for the love of the Gods! Forget the ears! Why are you here?"

Instead of answering Ryou, Bakura attempted to sideswipe the dagger out of the boy's hand since the closeness of the blade to his throat unnerved him. Ryou saw the movement a mere nanosecond before Bakura's arm connected, and wrenched his dagger arm back. Anticipating the older albino becoming violent, Ryou dealt a preemptive blow by landing a palm strike to Bakura's chin, then ducking down and wheeling his leg outward, catching Bakura's legs and sweeping them out from under him. The other Darks watched in shock as Bakura was sent right over his head, landing in a painful mound on the ground. When Ryou saw his opponent lying prone on the grass, he sped over to point the knife at his throat again, asserting his authority over the other boy's life.

Yami wisely chose that moment to cautiously approach the irate albino rabbit, at least hoping to divert attention from Bakura who was very close to having his head explode from the pain of his chin, the shock of being beaten so easily (by his own Light, mind you), and the strange turn of events that had landed them in this strange world.

"Excuse me. I'm sorry for my associate's rudeness, but sadly, he's an idiot." Yami politely stated, deftly ignoring Bakura's outraged and pain-filled squawk. "You see, he's had bad experiences with people trying to kill him, so he doesn't like having a knife pointed at him. I assure you he only moved out of reflex."

Ryou just looked at him for a moment before looking down at the Thief below him. Bakura had the good sense to look shameful of his actions, which calmed Ryou down significantly. "Oh, that's perfectly understandable, then."

Yami, seeing as how the knife wasn't moving, decided to make some introductions in order to distract the young rabbit further from the fight. "I'm Yami Sennen, and these are my friends. The platinum blonde boy back there is Marik Ishmal, the brunet next to him is Seto Kaiba, and the one you're sitting on is Bakura Touzouku."

Ryou, seemingly forgetting all about the boy who attacked him, smiled brightly at the polite stranger.

"Well, lovely to meet you, Yami. My name's Ryou Rabbit." Ryou replied sweetly, but still holding the knife to Bakura's throat.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Ryou. Um, could you please remove your knife from my associate's throat?" Yami asked.

"Sure, as long as he doesn't make any more comments about my ears." Ryou responded. Yami just looked at Bakura.

"Well?"

Bakura huffed before turning away. "Fine. No more ear comments."

Ryou smiled again as he hopped off of Bakura and kneeled down to the ground to slip the knife back into the side of his boot. Rising again, he grew serious.

"So, now that I know your names, why were you following me? Really?" Ryou asked, crossing his arms as he watched Bakura get up and the other boys draw closer.

"Well, we decided to follow you because we thought you might know where some of our other friends went. You see, they disappeared earlier and we are desperate to find them." Yami explained, feeling the incessant worry creep up on him again. He had to find his Aibou, and soon.

"First things first, which do you choose: Red, White, or Black?" Ryou asked sharply, steeling his eyes. The other boys just looked confused.

"Why are you asking us to choose a color?" Yami asked. Ryou merely smirked, quite evilly I might add.

"Because I will only help you if you choose the right one. Answer wrong and I will abandon you in these woods and you will never find your friends." Ryou said, ignoring the looks of outrage on each face. "I'm sorry, that's just the way it is. Now choose."

Seeing that no argument could convince Ryou to help them, and realizing that Ryou could probably handle them all in a fight, the Darks gathered together to formulate a plan to answer.

"How the Hell are we supposed to pick the right one?" Marik exclaimed.

"There has to be some kind of significance to the colors that could give us a clue. Seto?" Yami asked.

"Red is the only singular color, while white is all colors combined and black is the absence of any color. Other than art basics, I don't know much." Seto conceded. Yami still looked frustrated, but gratefully nodded his head to his cousin's input.

"Perhaps it's his favorite color, and we have to guess right?" Bakura added, seemingly on the right track. "Ryou's favorite color is white! That has to be it!"

"Bakura, don't get ahead of yourself. That could be it, or it could be a trick to see if you would pick his favorite color but the answer is different. And besides, this Ryou obviously doesn't know you, so how can your Ryou and this one be the same?" Yami countered. Bakura drooped at this, reeling back to the emptiness of his Light's absence.

"What about red? He's wearing all sorts of red." Marik asked, adding to the discussion. Yami just quirked his eyebrow at the obvious answer.

"Do you really think it would be that simple? For all we know, it could be a tra-"

"Black."

The sudden answer pulled Yami's attention back to his cousin. "What?"

"The answer is black. I know it. Don't ask me how, but I do." Seto stated firmly, looking off into the distance.

When Yami and Bakura had started squabbling, all Seto could think of was Joey. The bouncy blond's presence was sorely missed, especially when surrounded by the current company. All Seto wanted was to find the blond as soon as possible and just hug the breath out of him. Probably kiss him silly, too. The burning need to look into those breathtaking amber eyes and card his hand through soft golden hair threatened to cause Seto's heart to combust. He didn't care about his reputation at that point. He just needed some kind of contact, some kind of reassurance that the blond was safe and close.

As he was thinking of Joey, his thoughts randomly started to wander, a common occurrence whenever he thought of his crush. As they bounced from Joey's honey eyes to his beautiful athletic body, then to his various habits of napping in class and reorganizing his deck during lunch, eventually they settled on his love's favorite Duel Monster, the Red Eyes Black Dragon. Seeing it in his mind's eye, he couldn't help but appreciate its own type of beauty and majesty. Sure, the Red Eyes was smaller and less powerful than his own Blue Eyes, but that didn't make it any less special. In fact, throughout every tournament they had all been through, Seto had not once come across another Red Eyes wielder, not even on an international level. Perhaps the Red Eyes was rarer than he thought…just like his Puppy.

But as Seto was imagining the black dragon, somehow the image became sharper as his thoughts began to haze. He could see the layered scales and lethal spines of the dragon move and writhe, shining a deep black, so deep it made the shadows jealous. Such a rich color, or absence of color, just drew Seto to the unquestionable conclusion that 'black' was the correct answer to the rabbit's question.

"Cousin, how can you be sure? If it's wrong, we'll never find our loves." Yami asked, piercing him with his crimson eyes, entreating him to be thorough in his decision. Seto just stared back.

"I know the stakes, Yami. I'm not wrong. Please. Trust me." Seto said. The others just looked at him, shocked that he would actually say 'please' to any of them, or actually say word at all. Yami, seeing the unwavering determination in his cousin's eyes, just sighed and nodded. Bakura and Marik were about to object when Yami waved them off. Arguing about it even more would not provide any kind of clear direction or answer, so Seto's choice seemed as likely as any.

Turning to Ryou, who had just stood there patiently waiting for an answer, Yami cleared his throat.

"We have reached a decision. The answer is-" Yami was cut off.

"Black." Seto finished.

Ryou didn't move for a moment, appraising the boys in front of him. The ones called Bakura and Marik looked like they had just swallowed a lemon, and were looking quite disgruntled and disagreeable. Yami looked resigned but still slightly confident and hopeful. But the one called Seto ultimately drew his eye. He looked, for lack of a better word, powerful. Like he had delivered a death sentence, and though fully aware of the consequences of his actions, was more than prepared to go through with it.

Such a quality, only a king could possess.

Ryou smirked. The Darks held their breath.

"Correct!" Ryou chirped, his smirk turning into a bright, blinding smile. The Darks groaned and slumped with relief. Thank the Gods!

"Now, come along. I will help you find your friends as I attend to some personal matters. Just follow me." But before Ryou could make it to the tree line, he decided to have some fun with the strange group of people he had met, especially his handsome look-alike.

"Although… I would have accepted white, too!" Ryou said as he began to start walking off into the woods, giggling when he heard a familiar outraged squawk from a familiar albino Thief.

"DAMMIT, PHARAOH! I TOLD YOU SO!"

* * *

A/N: I am still so so sorry for not updating sooner. It isn't very fair to all of my readers, but college and writer's block was becoming absolute murder for me. This chapter has been the worst to write and I'm still not satisfied with how it turned out when they met Ryou Rabbit. Oh well, I'll just have to try harder next chapter and make it awesome!

Please Read and Review!


	7. Author's Note: PLEASE READ!

Dear Readers,

Hello, one and all who had hoped to find a new chapter of "Dreams of Wonderland." I regret to inform you all that this is not a chapter (obvious, right?). This is just a forewarning so that none of you decide to flame me for the following message:

I have decided to force a mini-hiatus on myself for the majority of December due to finals at my college. I must focus on my studies for the next three weeks, so I hope all of you understand the need to extend the next update. I have already received a few messages concerning my lack of new chapters, so let me explain.

A few weeks ago, my computer started acting up. It turns out that I had a virus that none of my programs were able to get rid of. My computer had to be completely wiped and rebuilt from the ground up. Outrageously frustrating, yes, but necessary. This, combined with horrible writer's block, has led to no new chapter being written. I am very sorry for being so lax in my work ethic, but college comes first.

But, please believe me when I say that I won't at least be working on the new chapter over the next few weeks. I will invariably find time to work on my story, hopefully making the next installment much funnier and interesting than the last to make up for the long wait. I know this might be frustrating for some of you, so again, I'm very sorry. Please satisfy yourselves with a possible oneshot I hope to put up soon.

Sincerely and with deepest apologies,

Green-eyed-demoness2010

P.S. Just in case I might be offline while working for the next three weeks, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and please have a safe and very Merry Christmas/Chanukah (sp?)/Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice/Any other religious holiday I missed, and a Happy New Year!

P.P.S. Dear Reizbar-Ookami, I was unable to start your personal commission for "Down Below" because of the aforementioned problems. And with finals coming up, I hope you can forgive my horrific tardiness in getting your requested picture done. I have a crude sketch of what I interpreted from the scene, so pre-planning: CHECK. However, due to my computer problems, I have to reinstall my scanner software and won't have the time to complete it all in the next three weeks.

If you have any more requests for me over Christmas Break and New Year's, just message me whenever.

But, this I solemnly swear, you WILL have your commission BEFORE Christmas Eve! I WILL NOT FAIL YOU, REIZ!


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